This document discusses achieving work-life balance in academia. It makes several key points: 1) There is no single definition of "balance" and what constitutes balance will vary between individuals and change over time based on life circumstances. People should define balance based on their own goals and priorities. 2) Individuals should carefully consider their career goals and align their efforts, like focusing on publications vs. teaching, to make progress toward those goals. 3) Working smarter, not just harder, is important to balance. Actual accomplishments matter more than hours worked since academics do not have set work schedules. Efficiency skills like coding can help maximize productivity. 4) Structural changes like implementing work-life

1. @jayvanbavel
WORKLIFEBALANCE

2. THECHALLENGE

3. THEREISNOSUCHTHINGASOPTIMALBALANCE

4. THEREISNOSUCHTHINGASOPTIMALBALANCE
- Leaving academia is not always the solution:
- Most people encounter the same challenge in
other career paths
- And your own needs change over time (eg kids)

5. - No one wants the exact-same-things out of life
- Don’t impose your definition of “balance” on others
- Don’t impose their definition of “balance” on yourself
- THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT WHAT BALANCE ~YOU~ WANT TO ACHIEVE
DEFINEYOUROWNIDEALBALANCE

6. - Abandon the idea that you have to be great at everything
- Identify your career goals and align your work to achieving them
- If you want to get a research job, focus more on high impact publications
- If you want a teaching job, focus more on teaching excellence
- If you are a professor, you might want to focus on leadership or administration
- If you want a non-academic job, build the necessary skills
ALIGNYOUREFFORTWITHYOURGOALS

7. - Most discussion of balance focuses on the time allotted to work
WORKSMARTER,NOTHARDER

8. - Most discussion of balance focuses on the time allotted to work
- But one of the cool things about academia is that the time we work is pretty much
irrelevant. We don’t have to punch in to a time clock.
WORKSMARTER,NOTHARDER

9. - Most discussion of balance focuses on the time allotted to work
- But one of the cool things about academia is that the time we work is pretty much
irrelevant. We don’t have to punch in to a time clock.
- What matters are our actual accomplishments.
WORKSMARTER,NOTHARDER

10. - Most discussion of balance focuses on the time allotted to work
- But one of the cool things about academia is that the time we work is pretty much
irrelevant. We don’t have to punch in to a time clock.
- What matters are our actual accomplishments.
- Use your time wisely and build skills that make you efficient (e.g., coding, analysis)
WORKSMARTER,NOTHARDER

11. - Ensure your basic needs are met—you can’t achieve your higher order goals without
ensuring these more elementary goals.
CARVEOUTTIMEFORYOURLIFE

12. - Ensure your basic needs are met—you can’t achieve your higher order goals without
ensuring these more elementary goals.
- Pace yourself: Your career is a marathon, not a sprint
CARVEOUTTIMEFORYOURLIFE

13. - To achieve any kind of balance you will need
to say “no” to a lot of things
- Learn strategies for saying no
- If you say no, recommend others
- Be equitable in your recommendations
- Be respectful when others say no
- Read more here: bit.ly/2Zc701F
SAYING“NO”ISACRITICALLIFESKILL

14. - Use your power or network to make change
- My lab wrote a work-life balance policy
- Read it here: bit.ly/2LNhxxj
- A policy benefits everyone: from the faculty
member to postdocs to grad students to
research assistants
- Discuss with your group to learn their needs
and find happy compromises
- Provide clarity (e.g., emails, work hours)
- Add it to your lab manual so incoming lab
members read it
MAKESTRUCTURALCHANGES

15. - My lab has a YouTube channel with additional talks on becoming more efficient
- I also co-host a column on Science Careers for early career scholars
FORMOREADVICEONACHIEVINGBALANCE